Coasterbuzz Podcast

While I love this show, I wonder if it's popularity is causing the slowdown on Pointbuzz?

Your Radio days have served you well, Jeff! Nice job!

MrScott

Same server maybe???

That's what I'm thinking. But there was a defrag issue going on last week, too.

Whatever is going on is slowing things to a crawl here.

MrScott

I have noticed a slowdown over on Coasterbuzz but not quite so bad here.

I've been trying to get on here since about 3 but it wouldn't work, it said the server was too busy.

Same here.

ya, it was going really slow, so I thought it was just my internet (because it goes slow sometimes for no reason) so I went to another site and it was going just as fast! Whats the reason behing all this MADNESS!!!

No, the slow down has been because of a severely fragmented hard drive. I've been hitting the defrag in pieces over the last week or so, and I think it's finally to a stable place. The disk activity was about eight times the acceptable limit.

Speaking off the Podcast…..

I found it interesting that Will Koch noted that with their expansion Indianapolis has become a big market for them. While not one of the two biggest Markets for CP in C-town and Detroit, Indianapolis is still a fair sized market for CP. It’s quite amazing that that with recent expansion, Holiday World might now be considered a regional competitor to Cedar Point, at least in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky regions.

Since it sounds like the Koch’s don’t have any intentions to stop expanding. I believe he even stated he wanted to reach the 2 million mark in attendance in one point in time. It will be interesting to see how their low cost leader and high service level attitude combined with expansion will compete with CP for these markets in the near future.

Yeah, he did say that he wanted to hit 2 million within ten years, and that's fairly ambitious. But you may also notice that he said the actual perceived value of a day at a park is very important to pricing. We've been talking about that in the context of Cedar Point now for much of this year.

"If ya wanna play, ya gotta pay!"

The question is how much is too much? Being a Season Pass holder, the drop in admission price probably won't affect me in a positive way (I highly doubt SP prices will be lowered).

I usually go to the park with a family of 4 and it never ceases to amaze me the amount of cash the parents have to drop in the park. And that is in addition to the stuff we bring with us.

I really don't think lowering the gate price will help attendance that much. It's too little, too late. I don't know what the answer is to CP's lagging attendance, but this doesn't "feel" like it.

MrScott

If they market a price drop well enough then people will notice. I wouldn't expect people to notice it on their own though.

Oh, I'm sure they will market the heck out of it. "Too little, too late."

How about a 40% price cut throughout the park? I doubt it will happen, but that might work on improving attendance 5 years from now.

MrScott

Jeff said:
No, the slow down has been because of a severely fragmented hard drive.

That reminds me, I need to run defrag on my computer. Mozilla Firefox should take 2 or 3 seconds to load on my computer. Now it takes about 40 to 50 seconds.

To be honest, I haven't visited CP this summer.

Several years ago when I possesed a season pass, I would get a group of friends to go with me for day trips. I would charge them $10 or $15 each for gas and parking. Gas would cost me $25 and parking was absorbed into my parking pass. I made $5 or $10 bucks each trip because of that. One year I made $25 over the costs of my season pass, parking pass, and gas. I'm not a cheap person. I more than made up for the amount I profited from the guys. I ended up spending quite a bit in the park.

It costs $63 for gas now. I could do the same and still have minimal costs to get to the park. I honestly don't have an urge to go back. The last couple of times I've not had a good impression. I've safely rode MF over 250 times with the lapbar up an inch or two, The seatbelt would be a bit loose and have 2 or 3 inches of slack at least. I never cared about that, It's just how the ride hosts left my bar. I would have no problem pulling it down. In 2004 I became a "guest of exceptional size." Not only had I not gotten any larger, I've lose a few pounds since before. Those extra inches managed to disappear and I was required to pull an inch of slack. The ride hosts didn't upset me, they just did their jobs. When I attempted to communicate with management, I got a "I'm too busy" look then fed lines about the seatbelt lengths that were false. I didn't bitch, yell, demand or even act angry. I did question them in terms of what I had experinced. I was turned off by the way I was treated and blown off by them. As I was leaving I heard a comment made behind my back. I would have been fine not being able to ride MF, but after that I don't want to return.

The friends from before have gone seperate ways for a number of reasons. I miss those times with them. Some things can't last forever.

Will I ever go back to CP? Sure, I hold grudges for a long time, but not forever. I've had too many excellent times there.

I have to say I didn't go as much this year either, or last year, even though I've got a season pass. There are several reasons:

1) July and August are hot and the lines are way too long.

2) Construction between Detroit and Sandusky (this was the case for most of last year when they were working on 275, 75, and, of course, 280)

3) Gas and economy. Sure, I have a season pass and a parking pass which helps a great deal in cutting the cost. But even with my Saturn, $30-$35 for a tank of gas is a lot of money for someone who is on a strict budget.

4) food and drink prices. Yeah...I could pack a cooler and sit in the parking lot to eat, but I don't.

Again, I have a season pass. Those people who are making the two hour drive (or more) from Detroit are dealing with all the same issues AND the price of tickets.

It's no surprise the economy in Michigan sucks big time and is getting worse. So if they wish to draw from this market as they have been in the past, lowering gate prices is a must. Lowering prices for seniors who take their grandkids is a must. And rethinking some of their pricing for food and drink is also something they should look at.

After spending the weekend at Holiday World, it's very clear that you get so much more there for the money than you get at CP, even with the extra coasters and flats.

It's not the gate price that is killing attendance, it's the overall cost of the trip. $8.00 beer, $7.00 hot dogs, $5.00 Dippin' Dots...and more. I haven't even brought up the "Kiddie Casinos".

Lowering the gate may help a little, but it won't fix the problem. CP is pricing itself too high for families to enjoy anymore. And until the overpaid Top Dogs understand this, it's only bound to get worse. They may be out of touch with the general public.

MrScott

They may be out of touch with the general public.

Amen.